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Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS Is A Microbudget How To Model

I recently had the great pleasure of watching MONSTERS.  I enjoyed the movie on many levels, including that it is just good fun.  But what I really loved was how well micro-budget production techniques enabled good story telling.  In my raving about this, Jonathan Stromberg responded and pointed me to his far better articulated post on the same subject.  What follows is his first two paragraphs in CineSpect , but check out the whole post here.

The following review is partially adapted from a workshop I gave to film students at the State University of New York at Purchase College on 6 October 2010.

“Monsters”, the debut feature of writer/director Gareth Edwards, is, from the point of view of a spectator, an imperfect film. It is, however, from the point of view of a filmmaker, one of the most exciting releases I’ve seen this year. Edwards’s production reads like a map for young filmmakers, marking pitfalls with his struggles and showing a way forward with his successes. “Monsters” is one of the clearest case studies yet for the challenges—and advantages—of micro-budget filmmaking.

The ostensible auteur Edwards approached his first feature from his background in visual effects and documentary television. In some ways, this spelled destiny for the production style of “Monsters.” The narrative is basically theatrical, but the shooting style is strongly influenced by the production necessities of non-fiction television. For example, the film has no script per se. Edwards shot using scene outlines and necessary plot points but allowed his cast, Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy, to improvise freely within the scene. The apparent production doctrine was for Edwards, also the cinematographer, to shoot the scene multiple times from different angles to get broad coverage of every beat. The film in this way develops a signature somewhat different from more traditional narrative constructions. Edwards foregoes the “establishing wide then punch in for medium shots and close ups” archetype for something that ends up more like a multi-camera shoot. The angles in any particular scene are more varied, but also less predictable. In documentary television we—I work in non-fiction television as well—often shoot this way. In this way, a decision regarding the mode of production has significant impact on the film’s aesthetic, for better or worse, in a way that contrasts it to traditional productions.

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Remembering Harvey Pekar

Comic Book Resources has a good post on the NY Comic Con event on American Splendor’s creator Harvey Pekar. Harvey has been an inspiration for so many people, myself included.

Dean Haspiel shared a litte bit more on how our movie came together, and how he introduced me to Harvey.

“I was working as an assistant to [producer] Ted Hope,” Haspiel said. “One of my jobs was to pay bills and file things. I came across an ‘American Splendor’ film script. Rob Schneider was slated to play Pekar, but that didn’t happen. I also came across a Chester Brown screenplay. I discovered a bunch of comics and that [Hope] was a fan. I had done two or three one-page stories with Harvey and I felt like I could ask Ted Hope if he was interested in an ‘American Splendor’ movie. He said ‘Sure!’ I called up Harvey, and he didn’t know who this guy was and what his movies were. He said, ‘Sure, have him call me.’ A year and a half later was this amazing, Sundance Award-winning movie.”

Give the whole post a read.

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The Path To American Splendor

Dean Haspiel had Harvey Pekar’s wife Joyce Brabner call me. Having long wanted to make a film of Harvey and American Splendor, I optioned the material on the phone. It wasn’t so easy for Dean who struggled to get Harvey to let him work for him, and then got in a fight with Harvey when he finally called. Classic Harvey. Check out the video here.

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Scraper Bikes

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

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Chance Favors The Connected Mind

Animated lectures have become one of my fave web content forms.  Most of my pleasures of this sort have come from tips from my wife as to what is posted to YouTube via RSA Animate (I’ve posted some of these before).

The “trailer” for Steven Johnson’s new book “Where Good Ideas Come From” was via a Fred Wilson post, and makes a good case for why we should not lament this Culture Of Distraction (and if you are wondering what to get me for my birthday, it’s on my list).

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John Berger’s WAYS OF SEEING

I found John Berger’s book and series “Ways Of Seeing” pretty damn mindblowing when I first encountered it back in film school. It changed the way I look at filmmaking or more precisely, image making. Glad to find it on YouTube.

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NYC Cinema Tour: Civilization

Context may not be everything,  but it is a hell of a lot.  Marco Brambilla’s video installation for The Standard Hotel’s elevators is a real joy.  You might find me just going up and down for hours sometimes.  It won’t be the same, but I suggest if you can’t get there, to take you laptop to the largest staircase you can find and start climbing while watching the video below.

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.